Another 24 Hours? The Mobile Game Mosh

It's
been a little less than a year since the previous 24-hour game design
competition, and I find myself in the same exact spot, in the middle of
the computer lab of Parson's Design and Technology Department. The
weather outside for the previous event was cold and rainy. Rather bleak
really, so the thought of spending 24 hours (well, more like 25 and a
half) cooped up inside a college lab doesn't seem too unwelcoming,
especially when it's to build a working game. This particular morning
is easily the nicest New York has seen all year; the sun is out, the
air is warm, and unfortunately, the day looks quite inviting.

Yet
no one (else) is anxious to go outside and bask in under the clear blue
sky. Instead, college students from all over New York are eager to get
started. There's energy in the air, as everyone finds their team's spot
and attempt to get settled in.

10:40am

Everyone
gathers to hear Katie Salen, the director of the Design and Technology
Department and one of the driving forces behind the event, lay down the
ground rules. The previous year's competition was called “Retro Redux:
the 24 Hour Game Design Jam”, in which students working in teams had to
create a game that would work as an Atari 2600 title. The event was
regarded as a smash success, so the organizers decided to do things a
bit different, to be more ambitious. Hence why this year's event was
dubbed the “Mobile Game Mosh”, due to the platform: cell phones.

Two Bit Operation

After
a brief hello, Salen hands the stage to Dave Carroll, a member of the
developmental team, who explains the process. Teams had the option to
create either single-player or multiplayer games. For multiplayer,
teams were required to make their games with Flash, which would then
operate on Nokia phones (one of the event's sponsors) that are loaded
with Flash Lite Player, a version of the program specifically tailored
for mobile devices. During the technical breakdown describing how the
games will be delivered to the phones, it's explained that true,
real-time multiplayer action is simply not possible, with a lag between
button input and server response being a couple of seconds. So it is
asked that instead of fast-paced, arcade action, participants consider
a genre less time intensive, such as strategy. It is even strongly
suggested that the phone be viewed as a controller, and that all the
primary action take place on a large screen that everyone will refer to
in unison. The Nintendo DS's set-up is cited as the main source of
inspiration for the dual display idea.

As
for the reason behind the use of Flash for creating cell phone gaming
content, the reasons are two-fold. First, it makes workflow relatively
easy. But the main reason is to provide an example as to why cell phone
carriers should pre-install Flash into handsets - to help spread the
platform, which would make development of games far easier for
everyone, from big publishers to indie developers.

Team Daddy

For
single-player titles, GameMaker, an object-oriented program that allows
for game development without any programming skills, was required. Dex
Smither, another member of the developmental team, as well as a student
who would be participating in the event, gave the audience a
demonstration of GameMaker, and went over various technical aspects and
quirks to keep in mind. Though at a certain point, Dex encountered
difficulties with the program, which was oddly reminiscent of the
previous year, where the GameMaker demo also proved to be less than
smooth.

Near
the end of the talk, Salen later stated that all games must be playable
to qualify. Any multiplayer game had to work on the provided handset
and single-player game had to work on a PC, since unlike Flash there is
no means to output GameMaker onto a phone. She also presented the
design constraint, which was created to prevent pre-planning among the
students: each group would be presented with four cards, each with a
verb, and at least two of the verbs must be utilized in the game, at
least as a starting point. Those who did not like their verbs had the
option to trade with other teams.

12:00pm

Each
team is handed their cards and the competition begins. Excitement hits
a fever pitch throughout the entire lab as everyone goes over their
verbs. There are 11 teams in total, comprised of 60 participants, from
7 different universities across the state of New York. There's the
Polymorphs from Brooklyn Polytechnic University, Two Bit Operation from
Cornell University, Mercy from Mercy College, 7SAMURAI-1 from New York
University's Tisch ITP, Team Mikey rom Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, The Difference Engine from the Teachers College and Union
Theological Seminary at Columbia, and finally five teams representing
Parsons: For(24), La Pwnistas, !KILLAH BITZ!, Oh My Mosh, and Team
Daddy.

The
first team I speak with is Two Bit Operation. There are six members,
and everyone seems rather young; all of them appear to be freshmen.
Their verbs are "suck", "grip", "fade", and "conjure", and everyone
seems super enthused with what they got.

The Polymorphs

Just
around the corner are the Polymorphs, an eight-person team, headed by
an instructor, John Mahlman, with the other seven being students in his
class, though John himself is taking classes, hence why he is able to
participate (one must be a student to compete). It is apparent right
from the very beginning that thing are highly organized, with John
manning the helm of a potent, well-oiled machine. Everyone is extremely
enthusiastic, and highly optimistic, especially John, who states that
they have "plenty of time", which has the potential to be famous last
words at such an early time. Their words are "whirl", "balance",
"grapple", and "unfold".

But
the one team that immediately catches my eye, as well as everyone
else's, is Team Mikey, simply because it's just one guy, Mikey, or Mike
Stanton, who was originally going to be accompanied by two others that
decided to bail out due to a wedding that was also taking place that
weekend. Everyone is curious to see how one person will stack up
against ten other teams, each of which all have at least four people
onboard. The unique arrangement saddles him with certain obvious
disadvantages, but lends certain advantages as well. Mike's four words
are "clone", "jiggle", "flock", and "swing".

1:30pm

Every team is already hard at work. Most are brainstorming ideas on dry erase boards.

The
La Pwnistas is perhaps the most attention-grabbing team, perhaps due to
the leet-speak name, and how a few team members are wearing bandanas
with the name embossed (similar to the previous year's Parsons team, in
which everyone decided to make screen-printed shirts.... though unlike
then, the La Pwnistas made their personalized garb beforehand, whereas
their predecessors took a break during the competition to
create theirs). Hence why they immediately become the "cool kids" of
all the teams. Also reinforcing this fact is how every attempt to get
an answer to questions about their plans is replied with a joking or
sarcastic response. Their words are "bind", "snap", "wander", and
"illuminate". From those four, the La Pwnistas have drafted 50 others
via word association; despite the wisecracking demeanor, they are all
business.

The Difference Engine

Meanwhile, in one of the smaller labs around the corner is Mercy, where everyone is huddled around studying Arcadia,
a game produced by gameLab. Their four verbs are "tunnel", "juggle",
"mosh", and "bombard", and they've decided to create a game that "keeps
the player confused", so perhaps Arcadia is a excellent example
to draw from. In the same room is !KILLAH BITZ! Unlike most of the
other teams, these folks seem rather aloof, though just as determined.

Back
in the main room I find yet another curious group, The Difference
Engine: the odd mix of students from different schools, each with so
little in common with video games, making them yet another team worth
keeping a very close eye on. Despite the totally oddball gathering, one
can easily detect the high level of cohesion among the members, despite
the fact that had just seen each other for the first time the day prior
(when they, among other things, attempted to predict the words they
would be given). Their words would end up being "nudge", "seduce",
"ship", and "glide".

Across
from them is Daddy. Their words are "infuse", "digest", "stretch", and
"pull", though I don't get much info from them. Like the other Parsons
students, they keep much of their cards close to their chest. Yet,
everything seems calm, cool, and collected. Meanwhile, on the other
side of the room is Oh My Mosh, whose four verbs are "mimic", "tip",
"carve", and "scramble". Unlike the other teams, the energy level is
rather low among the seven-person team... everyone is quiet, nervous
even.

And
right next to them is Mikey, the one-man gang, who at this point
already has a working prototype running in Flash. It's already apparent
that working as one person, without having to refer to others, has
proven advantageous... it is also clear that when Mikey mentioned he
was comfortable with Flash, he was not exaggerating.

3:00pm

Things have grown a bit quieter, yet everyone is still talking and planning.

The
Polymorphs are fleshing out their concepts. On their dry erase board, I
notice the word "whirl" has been circled a few times. There's also a
timeline that states all major milestones for programming, creation of
assets, and play-testing. It's even hoped that with enough time,
another game might be produced.

For(24)

A
discussion regarding technical hurdles take place among the La
Pwnistas. It would seem that they would like to take advantage of GPS,
as well as the built-in cameras the phones have, but it seems a bit
doubtful. They also have chosen to analyze popular games.

Aside
the far off room containing Mercy and !KILLAH BITZ! is another room,
also housing two teams. First is 7SAMURAI-1, six men, a mix of
undergraduate and graduate students, all with a very heavy programming
background. They're also one of the most optimistic groups, and at this
point they're fleshing out a concept; going in they had some notions of
doing an MMO featuring rats, and they're attempting to see if they can
retrofit their concept with the four verbs given, which are "swirl",
"splice", "circles", and "flow". There are some concerns with the
technical limitation, but there's an air of confidence that they can be
overcome, but without an once of ego or arrogance.

Sharing
their room is the For(24). Their words are "skewer", "contact",
"extend", and "ostracize". At this point, they're still debating
between doing a single player or multiplayer game. Though one thing
that is agreed upon is that the controls need to be simple, and one
person cites a game that they had just played in the lobby as the main
source of the epiphany. "It's calamari something?"

The game in question is We Love Katamari,
which Katie Salen was spotted playing earlier in the open area next to
the lab. She and Parson's Design and Technology chair, Colleen Macklin
spent the late night of last year's event playing the first Katamari game, as well as World of Warcraft. So it's clear what this year's means for students to blow off some steam would be (along with Guitar Hero).

5:30pm

The
first signs of programming have begun, at least for some. Two Bit
Operation has revealed that they will be engineering a puzzle game - a Puyo Puyo
clone, but with a certain distinction; players will have to ability to
suck dropping pieces to the side where they will rest. How they will
utilize the saved piece is not exactly clear, but at least the verbs
"suck" and "grip" seem to be easily apparent.

!KILLAH BITZ!

And
the first signs of trouble have also sprung up. Mikey, who managed to
get his game running on the phone two hours earlier has run into
technical difficulties. Half of La Pwnistas have left the building for
Barnes and Noble to conduct some research. Half of Oh My Mosh is also
missing from their work area, but are instead just around the corner,
playing Katamari.

Some
are still in the process of hammering out the details. For(24) are
still deciding upon the rules. Right next to them is 7SAMURAI-1, and
since their title is multiplayer, they must use Flash. The problem here
is that the designated programmer has no experience with the
application, so he's teaching himself as he goes along. But everyone is
still extremely enthusiastic. In fact, they are determined to find a
work around solution to latency issues by avoiding the workflow that
Parsons organizers have set up. It's also noted that their MMO has a
new animal - slugs have replaced the rats.

Others
have managed to get their games actually working, just not in an
electronic form. On a table near the Mercy team are some random bits of
paper that were used to prototype their idea, which was what they had
been doing the past three hours (I'm told that their original idea was
also tested in such a manner, and it led them to realize some holes,
which lead to their current new idea). I also come across the
Difference Engine in the middle of trying out their paper version.